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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24656383">we can see the flip side</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/celestial_nova/pseuds/celestial_nova'>celestial_nova</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Kakusei | Fire Emblem: Awakening</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Time Loop, Angst, Canon-Typical Violence, Emotional Hurt/No Comfort, Gen, Introspection, aka nova’s most overused tag, but it’s not that bad, if no one hugs lucina right now i will, naga tries but to no avail, somewhat graphic descriptions of injuries</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-06-11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-06-11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 10:07:52</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>867</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24656383</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/celestial_nova/pseuds/celestial_nova</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <em>what comes after this try?</em>
</p><p>lucina will find the one timeline where they win, no matter how many centuries it takes.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>we can see the flip side</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>title and summary from “thurs 6-25” by sales. give it a listen, it was my inspiration for this i had it on repeat while writing</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>she was never going to win. </p><p> </p><p>she knew that. every beat of her heart was a reminder that she was destined to lose, that her life was never meant to go past this day. and yet here she was, standing on shaking legs that against all odds hadn’t shattered. her left arm held falchion aloft, while her right dangled to the side, numb, scarlet dripping from her fingertips. </p><p> </p><p>three red eyes stared down at her. she could curl up in one of the sockets with room to spare. </p><p> </p><p>
  <em> “so there is still one left.” </em>
</p><p> </p><p>this time around, she was the only survivor. it wasn’t the first time, but it had been a few cycles since the last instance - she had nearly forgotten the crushing, overbearing loneliness of owning the only heartbeat in a sea of bodies. despite having felt this pain time and time again, her throat constricted with unsung tears, and she couldn’t breathe; or maybe that was the blood that filled her throat, or the broken ribs that threatened to tear her lungs into strips. </p><p> </p><p>
  <em> “why haven’t you run yet, tiny one?” </em>
</p><p> </p><p>any sort of answer stuck in her stomach, so instead of giving an answer, she lifted falchion an inch higher. </p><p> </p><p>if dragons could laugh, grima did - it felt more like an earth-shattering roar than anything. <em> “it seems the tiny one is going to try and stand against me!” </em> three eyes shifted, zeroing in on her, and after all these cycles her spine still jolted in fear, icy dread spilling down her body in waves. <em> “and how, may i ask, are you going to do that?” </em></p><p> </p><p>“the only way i know how,” she murmured, although she didn’t know why; there was no one around to hear it. grima was too far away for even a scream to reach, and everyone else was dead dead<em> dead</em>. maybe it was to steel herself for her predetermined failure. maybe it was an anchor for herself, a tether to the physical world, keeping her from drifting into her hellscape mind. or maybe it was to create some semblance of camaraderie; the illusion of an ally that wasn’t there, a reanimation of the corpses that littered the ground around her. </p><p> </p><p>she took one step forward, and a spark shot through her foot and burned up her calf - maybe she had broken her foot for, what was this, the seventeenth time? whatever it was, the pain was familiar, and by extension easy to ignore. she took another step, and another, and soon she was running, charging forward towards an impossible foe; one arm trailing behind her as the other propelled the divine blade forward. </p><p> </p><p>she didn’t even make it within twenty feet of him. she was dead before she could blink. </p><p> </p><p>there wasn’t the sear of dragon breath, the acid-like sting of black magic, or the sharp pain of being pierced by tooth or claw. the only way she knew she was dead was because naga floated before her, the divine dragon’s usually impassive features twisted in some echo of grief. </p><p> </p><p>
  <em> “lu-” </em>
</p><p> </p><p>“just one more,” she cut in, a phrase she had heard as many times as the shrill scream of the fell dragon. her voice sounded dead, even to her own ears. “just… one more time.”</p><p> </p><p>naga frowned, and it looked almost human for a moment. almost raw. <em> “you can’t keep doing this, child.” </em></p><p> </p><p>the way naga called her <em> child </em> made her sick to her stomach - it felt all too similar to how grima called her <em> little one</em>.</p><p> </p><p>“please, naga, send me back, just- just one more time.” she could hear the way her voice cracked, could hear the lie that was so obvious it was near laughable. she was growing desperate in the face of naga’s concern, afraid she would take “mercy” on her and just send her to the afterlife. she couldn’t let that happen. for her father, her friends, and the fate of the entire world, she <em> couldn’t.</em></p><p><br/>
<br/>
</p><p><em> “you’ve been at this for decades,” </em> naga murmured, floating closer. her stomach churned at the pity in her voice, in the way her hand twitched up, as if to take her face into her hands like a mother would. her mother was <em>dead</em>. <em> “don’t you think it’s time to rest?” </em></p><p> </p><p>she shook her head too quickly, too frantically. she couldn’t muster the strength to yell or plead, and instead, she just let her thoughts tumble out into a string of words. “i beg of you, naga-” she can’t remember the last time she had addressed the dragon by her full title, they knew each other too well for that. “-send me back. i can do it. i can fix it all. i can find the right timeline and save everyone. i swear it.” her eyes burned, and she couldn’t find the energy to press her palms to her face, catch the tears before they fell. “i can do it.” twin trails of lava streaked down her face as her voice fell to a pitiful, pitiful whisper. “<em>please</em>.”</p><p> </p><p>naga gave one last sigh, one last lingering stare, before her hand drifted up between them. </p><p> </p><p>lucina fell into a burning forest she knew better than the back of her hand.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>nova stop using songs as titles challenge</p><p>hello fire emblem fandom!! i guess this is my entry?? on that note the only game i’ve ever played is heroes, all i know is from the cutscenes and tumblr, please don’t murder me or assume i know anything at all. regardless, i would kill and die for lucina, she is my daughter and i love her so much and she deserved absolutely none of what happened in canon... which is why i wrote a little drabble about her suffering at 3am. what can i say, angst is all i know</p><p>special thanks to signel_chan for editing this!! my usual editors don’t know fire emblem so i asked for a favor,, she’s so awesome go check out her works please</p><p>kudos are loved!! comments are appreciated!! have a better day than lucina is having!!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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